Page 22 of The Even Odder Couple

ChapterFive

TESS

I find a picnic table under a shady tree, although the air is beginning to cool. As I set out our meal, the delicious scent wafts over me, like a thought bubble sayingI’m hungry.

Beef broccoli. Orange chicken. A double order of lo mein. I went to high school with the owner of Quik Wok, which is probably why he threw in an extra order of rice. Then there’s my favorite. The fortune cookies. I arrange our cookies beside a pair of real plates and forks I brought from home, along with napkins and two Cokes. The takeout containers sit in the middle of the table. I move the lo mein over an inch so it’s smack dab in the center.

Then I fidget, waiting for Spencer.

I think I upset him—rambling on about ourtions,or lack of them, but really. It was for his own good. For my own good. For both our goods. For all the goods.

The past few times we’ve been together—or texting, or whatever—he’s become less annoying and more enjoyable. And I cannot enjoy Spencer Crane. He needs to be with someone like Kayla Herrera. She’s sweet. Quiet. Orderly.

Spencer is all about the orderly.

Also she’s pretty. Spencer deserves pretty, even though I’m not sure he thinks so. Another few minutes go by. My mouth waters, and I eye the fortune cookies. There are two of them. I could eat mine now…

But no, I’m determined to wait. Patience may not be mybestvirtue, but I can muster it when I have to. Thankfully I don’t have to muster for long, because soon Spencer comes around the building and heads straight for our picnic table. Carrying chopsticks.

Seriously?

I was planning to apologize for teasing him, but now. This.

He slides onto the bench across from me and sets his chopsticks on one of the napkins.

I stifle a laugh. “You keep a stash of chopsticks in your desk?”

“I like to use the most appropriate utensils possible.” He nods at the Quik Wok boxes. “It makes the experience more authentic, eating the correct food with the correct implements. But no. To answer your exact question, I don’t keep chopsticks in my desk. I keep these in my car.”

I shake my head, succumbing to a smile. “Just when I think I can’t be more shocked by you… surprise!”

I grab the container of beef broccoli, but Spencer lifts a hand to stop me. “Hold on.” He clears his throat. “Before we eat, I want to apologize for interrupting you back there.” He bobs his head at the main building. “Twice. And also for theactually.That’s not my style. I’m sorry.”

“I… oh… well…” My mouth opens and shuts. “Okay.”

This is unexpected.

“It’s no excuse, but I’ve been working so much lately, I think my sense of humor got stretched too thin.” He frowns. “Spending weekends with my brother is no picnic, and Frank’s been giving me a pretty hard time.”

My heart sinks an inch remembering all the stuff Frank said at the car wash. “Yeah,” I say. “I noticed. Him teasing you about never having a girlfriend was rough.”

Spencer works his jaw. “He said I hadn’t dated since I moved back to Apple Valley.”

I scrunch up my nose. “Okay.”

“Sorry.” He splays his hands. “Another correction. I’ll stop.”

“No, I get it,” I hurry to add. “And I guess I piled on too. In front of Jill and Kayla. But I didn’t mean it like that. I thought you and I were just being… I don’t know…”

“Friends?”

“Exactly.” But there goes my heart again. Sinking another inch.

“Who’d have thought, right?” Spencer huffs out a laugh. “The two of us don’t exactly have a lot in common.”

“We have absolutely nothing in common.” I focus on slipping the top of the beef broccoli container open. “But I guess stranger things have happened.”

When he nods, I kind of wish he’d argue the point more. Then again, he just promised to stop correcting me. So instead he says, “Either way, I shouldn’t have lost my cool.”

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